501st Legion
The 501st Legion refers to a number of nations in various IOTs played by Kinich-Ahau, based on the 501st Legion of Star Wars fame. =History= Sons of Mars III Pre-game history Originally a volunteer group of Star Wars fans, the 501st Legion was forced to arm itself in response to the ineffectiveness of law enforcement in dealing with powerful gangs. Over time, the group transformed from a peaceful fan organization into a cohesive fighting force. They ousted the gangs, summoned all members to western North America, and declared their own nation. Now, after years of the country being met with laughter and derision, they have finally achieved Great Power status, and are a force to be reckoned with. Game history The 501st Legion expanded peacefully into Mexico for several turns, slowly building up its military and industry. On Turn 4, 3 Provinces in northern Mexico rebelled; 2 succeeded, and the Free Republic of Sinaloa seceded from the 501st Legion. The traitor armies were swiftly crushed and Sinaloa was reabsorbed by the first war update of the turn. On Turn 5, The 501st was the recipient of the ‘Economic Boom’ event, granting +2% Industry; they were also the first nation to complete research on T2 Province Busters. It was also during this turn that the first seeds of the 501st–One Vision alliance were sown, in the form of a trading agreement and the export of One Vision cloning technology to the 501st. On Turn 6, in response to Roman bio-weapons attacks against One Vision, the 501st engaged in some fine historical revisionism, replacing all references to Rome in national resources with references to Trollme (pronounced Trolm). The 501st Legion also began trading with the Cult of Norris. On Turn 7, in support of One Vision, the 501st launched its entire Province Buster arsenal—about 1 or 2 T1s and 5 T2s—against the Demon Realm. The Demons, already engaged in a nuclear war with One Vision, blamed it for the attack and therefore spared the 501st from retaliation. This war saw the end of both the Demon Realm and One Vision as sovereign states, although the latter reorganized into the terrorist Visionary Restoration Army (VRF), who would go on to build close ties with the 501st. On Turn 8, The 501st began production of the TIE/Defender I-class Interceptor, and announced plans to colonize former Demon territories. The 501st granted the VRF the right to establish bases in its territory, and began funding the terror organization. On Turn 9, a Natural Disaster wiped out some 501st Industry, and the 501st was ranked as having the second most powerful navy & air force in the world. The 501st developed T2 Chemical Weapons. The 501st began colonizing what was formerly Demonic India. On Turn 10, The 501st Legion was the recipient of the ‘Economic Boom’ event, granting +4% Industry; following strikes by the VRF against the Dictatorship in Brazil, Brazilian agents discovered VRF bases in the 501st. The Legion & VRF staged a mock battle the bases were evacuated; the 501st also suspended funding as part of the ruse to avoid arousing the suspicion of potential spies. Colonization of Demonic India continued. On Turn 11, a Natural Disaster wiped out more 501st Industry but the discovery of new exploitable resources mitigated the damage. The terrorist organization Philanthropy attempted to rob the 501st Treasury. The Legion successfully invaded & annexed Mexico. On Turn 12, in light of the 501st Legion’s other successes, revolutionary fervor subsided and the political environment began to stabilize. Nonetheless, Demons took control of a single province in India. The Legion was recognized as having the most powerful air force in the world. The terrorist organization Inquisition attempted to incite additional revolts within the 501st, but failed utterly. The 501st Legion delivered an ultimatum to 2 minor states in Central America; the ultimatum was ignored, and the Legion deployed troops to annex the two countries. The military operation was successful, but the minor states fired WMD; Grand Moff Hilwuff Kartin declared the operation a victory nonetheless. The incident prompted the terrorist organization Chaos, Inc. to publicly declare themselves an Enemy of the 501st Legion. Abyssinia launched WMD against its enemies; the 501st was not struck directly, but suffered collateral damage from the fallout. On Turn 13, The Legion was the recipient of the ‘Economic Bust’ event, losing 4% Industry. The Inquisition successfully thieved from the 501st Treasury. Deciding that peace was very boring, the 501st launched a massive invasion of the remnants of the USSR. The military operations themselves were very successful; however, Soviet strategic retaliation destroyed the Legion's colonies in Demonic India and damaged its North American territories. Abyssinia, seeking to do as much damage as possible to the world before it was vanquished, launched bioweapons at the premier trading powers of the globe; a strike against the Cult of Norris spread to the 501st. A defenceless USSR was invaded by numerous other nations; it fired one last bio-agent at the 501st as revenge. On Turn 14, due to the massive destruction it endured the previous turn, the 501st Air Force was downgraded from the most powerful in the world to 2nd most powerful. The Inquisition continued harassing the 501st, but only one of their agents succeeded. During the Epilogue, the 501st Legion peacefully merged with UFNAN (formerly the Cult of Norris), becoming the global hyperpower, and thanks to the Legion’s spacefaring technology, was able to colonize the Solar System. Multipolarity Pre-game history Shortly after Refugees were discovered fleeing the Empire, Palpatine sent an elite contingent of the 501st Legion outside of the Empire's borders to force them back into the fold; the mission was sent off course, however, when canisters containing samples of Imperial Bioweapons Project I71A were shattered in an accident, infecting the entire crew of the Imperial-II Class Star Destroyer Pioneer II. Pioneer II contained supplies essential to the success of the mission, however, so the garrisons aboard the Imperial-II Class Star Destroyer Trailblazer III and the two Victory-II Class Star Destroyers Pathfinder I and Pathfinder II were forced to mount an operation into the heart of Pioneer II to retrieve the supplies. The raid was a success, but approximately 15% of the Stormtroopers who survived the mission were infected during their stay on the Pioneer II. The need to keep them in quarantine, coupled with a series of infections among the navigators and communications officers, led to the ships veering off course. The vessels drifted through space for decades, the troopers occasionally raiding life-filled worlds for resources. Finally, by sheer dumb luck, the vessels stumbled across a planet that was not only home to civilization, but human civilization. Luckier still, the planet was home to descendants of the refugees they had been sent to recapture in the first place. However, as most of the original officers were dead and the new generation of officers and troopers felt no loyalty to the Empire that had sent their forefathers on this hellish mission, it was decided that the best course of action was to settle the planet's surface, and use the preexisting infrastructure to attempt to reestablish contact with the wider galaxy. Game history On Turn 1, the 501st Legion began importing rape from East Italy. The passage of an anti-WMD bill in the UN prompted the 501st Legion to surrender the vats containing Imperial Bioweapons Project I71A to the Union of Nations for study. The UN promptly ignored the vats; miraculously, no terrorist ever got his hands on them. The 501st Legion cliented Somalia, and begins peaceful expansion into the remainder of California. On Turn 2, after careful deliberation, officials from the Republic of Coruscant invited Grand Moff Jiaan Terjerrod to a diplomatic visit to the Coruscanti Capital, New Port City. Following numerous bombastic and jingoist remarks from the People's Republic of Xinjiang, the 501st Legion embargoed the country. Xinjiang declared war on the 501st Legion in retaliation. Now facing a common enemy, relations between the 501st Legion and the Kingdom of Hawai'i improved; the two nations would go on to become founding members of the League of Mutual Co-Prosperity. In response to East Italy imposing a toll on use of the Adriatic, the 501st Legion, in conjunction with several other states, boycotted East Italian goods. On Turn 3, the 501st Legion, secure in California, began sending colonists to Mexico. Ecuador became a 501st client. Grand Moff Jiaan Terjerrod visited New Port City; the diplomatic mission went swimmingly well, and Terjerrod parted with Hanna Antilles on positive terms. Though peace in East Asia was declared, tensions remained very high around the world. On Turn 4, the 501st Legion began colonizing Mexico in earnest. The Republic of Coruscant joined the League of Mutual Co-Prosperity, heralding years of 501ster-Coruscanti cooperation. The conflict between Hawai'i and Xinjiang blossomed into a wider conflict between the League and the Comintern over influence in the region. Angola and the United Democratic People's Republic of Korea (UDPRK) were willing to negotiate, but Xinjiang issued repeated threats of force. To prepare for a possible war with the Comintern, and in order secure a base of operations against Angola, the 501st cliented Tanzania. On Turn 5, resource depletions caused minor harm to the economy. A relatively bloodless revolution in Xinjiang saw it change from a Communist One-Party state to a Republican Multi-Party state, although Xinjiang’s foreign policy did not change and tensions remained high. The League of Mutual Co-Prosperity sent representatives from Hawai'i, Coruscant and the 501st to meet with Comintern representatives from Angola and the UDPRK. The conference saw many problems and difficulties between the two pacts smoothed over—indeed, Capitan Maximo Motti, the 501st representative, was instrumental in forging a compromise between Hawaii and Korea over the controversial UN Human Rights Bill. Tensions between the two power blocs cooled enough for considerations of joint military action against the Coalition of Non-aligned Countries; these plans were leaked to the outside world, preventing any such League-Comintern alliance from forming. Later on, in an attempt to lessen global tensions, Scotireland organized a ‘formal diplomatic meeting’ (Informal Party with lots of Alcohol), and invited representatives of every nation to join. Captain Motti was sent to the ‘meeting’ and, like every other attendee, got extremely drunk, eventually trying to scale a balcony to fix a non-existent light. Formosa and Nordeste became 501st clients, while the UDPRK bribed or couped (the historical record is fuzzy on exactly what happens) Ecuador, pirating them from the 501st. A 501st sponsored bill to amend the constitution of the Union of Nations passed. On Turn 6, hostile espionage agents carried out a series of truly impressive thefts, cleaning out the treasuries of Korea, Hawai'i and Oz, plunging the world into a recession. The 501st Legion was not spared from this, and spread the recession to Kongo. Thankfully, the low tax rates of the 501st Legion mitigated losses as hundreds of individuals and businesses fled from the oppressively high taxes in China, Oz and Finland, settling in the 501st Legion. The 501st Legion announced its willingness to aid other nations with their research, for the right price. China sponsored a revolt in the Demon Realm before launching a full-scale invasion, touching off the Pan-Asiatic War. On the positive side, in an attempt to foster pan-ideological cooperation in the face of World War, the 501st Legion joined Angola, Hawai'i, Partitionania, Coruscant, and Scotireland in launching the Space Whiskey-Trader-that-just-happens-to-have-a-lot-of-Guns Program. 501st agents incited a coup in Ecuador, bringing a Pro-501st government into power; the new government immediately requested a return to client state status with the 501st. A second 501st-sponsored bill to amend the constitution of the Union of Nations fails. The anti-Hawai’ian nations succeed in repealing the Human Rights Bill. On Turn 7, the fustercluck in East Asia continued. Workers, businesses and educated professionals continued their influx to the 501st tax haven. All nations and clients in the League of Mutual Co-Prosperity adopted a single currency, the League Unity Mark. China signed a peace treaty proposed by Hawai'i, and to the surprise of absolutely no one, broke it immediately; a nuclear exchange followed. Takrur, longstanding enemies of Angola, attempted to frame the 501st for an anti-Angolan coup in Mozambique. A coup in Somalia ousted the pro-501st government; on the bright side, it exposed hitherto unknown corruption in 501st Somalia, namely, that the regional governors had been channeling funds to terrorists. A coup in the New Confederate States of America brought the country into the 501st sphere of influence; the NCSA would go on to become one of the 501st Legion's closest clients. As best as we can determine from the historical record, at this time the Republic of Coruscant betrayed the League, becoming a double agent in the employ of the Comintern. On Turn 8, the brain drain once again brought benefits to the 501st Legion as capital, both human and financial, continued to pour in. Angola, in an attempt to defuse tensions, threw a party similar to the one thrown by Scotireland some years earlier; the 501st Legion's representative failed to incite any drunken shenanigans. A dispute between Hawai'i and Oz over the Javan Civil War threatened war between the two powers; the 501st pledged its support to the Hawai’ians. The 501st Legion invited the security corporation SR Multinational to open new branches in its territory. Hawai'ian agents uncovered evidence that the Comintern planned to sabotage the League SDI, and Hawai'i launched a massive nuclear first strike in an attempt to save themselves, resulting in the near destruction of Oz and the UDPRK. The Chinese Remnant in Ethiopia, seeking to avenge its humiliating defeat in the Pan-Asiatic War, successfully shut down the League SDI and launched a barrage of its own, obliterating both nations. Collateral damage claimed the lives of 150 000 501st citizens. Almost 12% of the global population was killed. The China Six reorganized as a terror cell dubbed ‘The Chinese Resistance Forces’. As nations the world over mourn the massive, pointless loss of life, Grand Moff Terjerrod ended the year with a private ceremony to mourn the loss of both his friends in the Hawai'ian Royal family and his citizens. On Turn 9, the formerly pacifistic Demon Realm experienced a sudden change in leadership; the Iblis assumed control, setting the stage for a much more militant Demon Realm in the future. The Scarlet Lancers, an insurgency force pivotal in the defeat of China, assumed direct control of the remnants of Xinjiang as partitioned by Oz, christening the new country the Co-operative Federation of Xinjiang. Formosa, the 501st client, was fully absorbed into the 501st Legion, resulting in direct rule of modest areas of southern China. The 501st representative to the UN was elected General Secretary. People and industry continued to flow into the 501st Legion, providing a much-needed economic boost in conjunction with the discovery of new resources. The Comintern and the Warsaw Pact scrambled to pick up surviving members of the now-defunct League of Mutual Co-Prosperity. Coruscant joins the Comintern.; Grand Moff Terjerrod, amused at how vigorously the Comintern was courting the 501st Legion—a Capitalist power with near-libertarian levels of deregulation—committed the 501st to the Comintern, but not before abolishing what little economic regulation still existed. On Turn 10, Oz and the UDPRK, with Angolan approval, invaded their ally and fellow Comintern member, India, over India’s stance on the disarmament issue, causing international dissent and rancor. The 501st Legion, disgusted by the actions of its allies—and having gained evidence of Coruscanti betrayal & seeking revenge—became a double agent in the employ of the Warsaw Pact, feeding confidential Comintern information to the alliance leader Partitionania. A coup in Neo-Inca installed a Pro-501st government. The 501st continued to reap the benefits of low taxes. On Turn 11, yet more people & businesses fled to the 501st Legion. As the Union of Nations became ever more anti-Comintern, Angola, Oz, the UDPRK, and the Crusader State began planning to neuter the UN by invading its trusteeships. In response, the 501st Legion shut down the Comintern missile shield, encouraging Partitionania to launch a peremptory nuclear strike to neuter the threat. A few days later, the Partitionanian leader made the following radio address: :My fellow Partitionanians, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw The Comitern forever. We begin bombing in five minutes. The resulting nuclear exchange, fallout, and civil wars killed over 86 million people—about 20% of the global population. The entirety of the Indian Subcontinent, the Korean peninsula, Australia, Anatolia, Angola, & the Levant were reduced to a radioactive wasteland; most of Poland and Ukraine suffer a similar fate. A Pro-PUB coup in the NCSA triggered a civil war, pitting the PUB-backed government against the 501st loyalists. On Turn 12, 501st scientists, working with experts from the Demon Realm, Partitionania and Venezuela, completed the Lacuna Project, vastly expanding the economic use of WMD technology. CRF terrorists stage a series of coups in the Chinese NPCs to form a New Kingdom of China led by Otto von Constantine before launching a massive invasion of Xinjiang, who are completely conquered in short order. The Scarlet Lancers immediately remobilized; the Restored Kingdom requested that the American nations stop supporting the group, attempting to bribe them with offers of open borders. The 501st Legion refused on the grounds that China had proven itself untrustworthy, and would almost certainly betray the 501st in a bid for World Domination™. Prioritizing the Quebeçois Civil War over the NCSA Civil War, the PUB abandons the government of the NCSA. The 501st Legion sends military support to the rebel government in the NCSA; its navy is repelled, but air wings operating in conjunction with rebel fighters manage to defeat the NCSA air force and devastate ground troops. A token 501st ground force joined the guerilla army and ousted the PUB-backed government, returning the NCSA to the 501st sphere of influence. Unfortunately, while the bulk of the 501st’s forces were deployed to the NCSA, the Templars—a terror organization made up of the remnants of the Crusader State, obsessed with destroying the 501st Legion—incited huge revolts in the population in 501st Mexico; hundreds of peasant armies rose up, completely overwhelming the local garrisons to proclaim a Socialist Mexico. A coup in Nordeste restored a pro-501st government. The Yucatan Republic, a Comintern member, worried by the 501ster Civil War but convinced the rebels would win, cautioned against intervention. Meanwhile, the Scarlet Lancers sent out a worldwide call to arms, lobbying the major powers for support in their final campaign against the Chinese despots. Its assets tied up in the civil war, the 501st Legion was unable to help the Lancers directly, but provided the Lancers free and unlimited access to its world-renowned laboratories & research institutions. On Turn 13, amid global chaos, including but not limited to the rise of Russia and subsequent Polish Genocide that forced a leadership change in the Comintern, the 501st Legion purchased chemical weapons technology from Iblis. Alaska invaded the UN territory of Vancouver, taking the island with a minimal loss of life. In order to destroy the rebels and better defend her borders, the 501st Legion applied for a massive loan from the World Bank, funding the creation of one of the largest militaries the world had ever seen; units from the 501st, NCSA, Nordeste and Tanzania consolidated into a single fighting force to confront the Mexicans. 701 501st vessels, 300 Tanzanian and 300 Nordeste ships struck 605 Mexican ships, sinking 306 enemy vessels at a the cost of 89 501st; the great naval battle claimed the lives of 612,000 Mexican rebels. 700 501st air wings joined forces with 312 NCSA squads against 750 Mexican wings; the Mexicans were utterly crushed, losing 473. Having established air and naval superiority, the 501st & NCSA launched a joint ground assault; the NCSA were repelled, but the 501st met nothing but success. But with the majority of the 501st’s forces devoted to Mexico, Alaska— exposed as a puppet of the Templars—invaded the 501st Legion. Such a scenario was not unanticipated; almost a quarter of the 501st’s military had been left behind to defend the homeland. Due to negligence on the part of the Templars , Alaska’s military was woefully unprepared for the war; their invading armies were ground into a fine powder while 501st air and naval forces bombed the remaining troops into submission and blockaded the country before a 501st counterattack swept through. Facing no resistance from the government and minimal resistance from the native Alaskans, the army's conquest was limited only by the scramble to secure supply lines. All of Alaska save one province was annexed by the 501st Legion; facing no other threats and with troops to spare, the 501st pushed deeper into rebel-held Mexico, taking a great swath of land. The 501st Legion had in an instant successfully regained Great Power status, doubled its size, and become the world’s third-largest economy, much to the chagrin of the Templars. A pro-501st coup in Papau started a civil war; to avoid fighting on multiple fronts, the 501st brokered a deal with the outgoing suzerain Takrur, agreeing to abstain from intervention if Takrur ended support to Alaska. During the (ongoing) Epilogue, the glorious forces of the 501st Legion smashed the remnants of Alaska and Mexico, bringing it into control of ½ of North America; indirectly, they controlled much more. Widespread antiterrorism operations also liquidated a large amount of terrorist bases, helping to secure the borders of the 501st Legion. Russia erupted into a civil war between the imperialists and socialists; both sides built up massive nuclear arsenals and launched them not only at each other, but also at ideological allies of the other side. Though the Game Epilogue is unfinished, presumably the 501st Legion aids the Scarlet Lancers in their overthrow of the Kingdom of China and the ensuing global campaign against the Greater Union of New Scotireland (fascist successor to the PUB). Multipolarity Rearmed Pre-game history After the end of the 501st Civil War & the annexation of Alaska, things were looking up at last for the 501st Legion. The state was stable, the former Mexican rebels were being cured of the mass brainwashing caused by the Templars, and the reigning Grand Moff, Jiaan Terjerrod, had successfully trasitioned the state from a Military Dictatorship to a stable democracy modeled on that of the late Co-operative Federation of Xinjiang. It looked as though the 501st Legion was ready to stand proud as one of the world's finest defenders of Freedom & Democracy. Unfortunately, it could not come to pass; on April 19, 2187, the 501st Legion reestablished contact with the wider galaxy. The entire reason they had settled on Earth, their whole purpose on this planet, had at last been fulfilled. This event, however, rather than bringing the nation to new heights, brought it crashing down. Over the course of their 37-year stop on this planet, many of the troopers & officers had come to see Earth as home. Their fathers & forefathers had spent decades drifting aimlessly through space, desperately searching for the refugees Palpatine had originally sent them to retrieve. Now that the men had found a safe planet, many had settled down & started families with the natives. At the same time, however, many of the natives were eager to leave. Only a privileged few had ever been allowed to serve in the Air & Naval forces of the 501st Legion—and therefore, make orbit—but even they had never been outside the solar system before. A large population of the natives began petitioning the government to send them into space. This conflict of interests, between the troopers who wanted to stay on solid ground & the civilians who want to explore the galaxy & leave the corruption & backstabbing of Earth behind, tore the nation apart. Representatives debated for hours on what to do; should we leave, should we stay, should some leave & some stay, and if so, how to allocate the transport barges & Star Destroyers in such a way that got the people off in a timely fashion that didn't leave the homeland defenseless. Eventually a compromise was reached: 3/4 of the ships would take those who wished to leave off the planet, 1/4 would stay in low Earth orbit and bombard any nations who sought to take advantage of the 501st Legion's temporary vulnerability. Unfortunately, the grave threat to the nation came not from without but from within, as after the ships departing Earth had passed Mars, Alaskan terrorists conducted a series of coordinated strikes designed to bring down the 501st's communication arrays. Left unable to call the departing ships for help, the devious Alaskans detonated a suitcase nuke in Los Angeles. The 501st Legion, with half of her military out of range & out of touch, and so recently having suffered through a political crisis that nearly tore the country apart, collapsed. Alaskan nationalists declared independence from the 501st while opportunistic raiders sapped the strength of the military. The nation could take no more, and after the seat of the provisional government, San Francisco, was sacked by a marauding party of Ojibwe invaders, the 501st Legion broke apart into a series of feuding city-states based in California, Mexico, & Polynesia. But one area of the former 501st was blessedly free from this destruction; the 501st's Chinese territories, based out of Taipei, remained a bastion of stability. After the sack of San Francisco, the highest ranking military officer in 501st Asia, General Xue Sheng-Li, declared himself the true Grand Moff and the Taipei Legion the true successor to the 501st. Game history To come soon Multipolarity II Pre-game history Throughout much of the past 1000 years, the power of the 501st Legion has been constantly waxing & waning; at different times being reduced to Los Angeles & the surrounding areas, at others expanding far past their 2178 borders to cover most of North America & China. The nation suffered outright collapse 3 times, being reduced to a series of independent, hostile states, only for one of those states to, through conquest, coercion, & shrewd dealings, gain control over most of the former 501st territories. The first time this happened, the 501st Legion was restored by the remnant in Taiwan. Derisively called the Taipei Legion by other powers, they eventually managed to reunite the 501st, moving their capital from Taipei back to Los Angeles once the city was retaken; the Taipei Successors became famous among the various 501st regimes for their patronization of artists & philosophers—indeed, the monuments built & poems & plays drafted during the reign of the Taipei Successors remain some of the most beautiful pieces of artwork ever created. The Taipei Successors ruled for nearly two centuries, enduring much waxing & waning, before a Civil War sparked by Formatic refugees tore the nation apart. From the infighting, a warlord from Nunavut managed to unite most of old 501st Canada, from there leading an invasion of the warring states in California & the Rockies; the Iqaluit Restoration, as it came to be known, brought the 501st Legion her greatest territorial increase in history; at the height of the Iqalungmiut rule, the 501st Legion stretched from Ellesmere Island to Panama & from Michigan to Alaska in North America & from Taiwan to Yunnan & Shanghai to Phnom Penh in East Asia. The Iqalungmiut were famed for their discipline & strong military tradition, but all the power in the world couldn't save them when their economy committed suicide two and a half centuries into their rule. The economic disaster, unparalleled in the history of Earth, brought the Iqalungmiut to their knees & reduced the the 501st Legion to a mess of independent, infighting, corrupt states for the third time in history. This time, restoration came not through war, but through diplomacy. The Imperial Governor of Tampico, determined to see the 501st through this disaster, passed a series of reforms in his territory designed to encourage investment into his city; these reforms attracted business giants such the Kintobor Corporation & the Riccio Conglomerate to open branches in Tampico; with the wealth the city gained from the presence of these & other businesses, Tampico was able to bring the other cities in 501st Mexico under her sway, reunifying with the rest of the states in 501st America in the Treaty of Albuquerque (2842). The new 501st was swiftly able to bring Canada & Southern China back into the fold, and by 2861, the 501st Legion had been restored to her 2178 borders. The next 60 years were marked by continual scientific advancements & economic growth, and though the Kintobor & Riccio abandoned their branches in Tampico in 2916, their influence on the nation lived on, fostering a spirit of growth & innovation. The waxing of the Tampico rulers could not last, however; they began to stagnate in the 2930s, and the waning began with the loss of Guangxi to the Great Vietnamese Empire in 2948. Loss of territory & economic decline marred the 501st Legion for the remainder of the 30th Century, until the 501st had been reduced to only Los Angeles & the surrounding territories in 2983. There are whispers that the Tampico regime has lost the Mandate of Palpatine, and the time is right for a new nation to claim leadership of the disunited 501st territories, but Actovian Trang, Grand Moff of the 501st Legion—or what remains of it—is determined to reverse these changes & bring the 501st back to her rightful place among the superpowers of the world. Game history To come soon Multipolarity IV Pre-game history Shortly after the partially successful Raid on Polis Massa, Imperial Intelligence uncovered evidence that the Death Star plans had been beamed to a hidden Rebel base in the Kalee system. An elite contingent of the 501st Legion was dispatched with an Imperial task force to wipe out the Rebel base & retrieve the stolen plans. While refueling in the Rhommamool system, however, the task force was attacked by Rebel forces. The rebel fleet, travelling Coreward on the Corellian Run, dropped into the Rhommamool system just as the Imperial task force had finished refueling; after a fierce battle, the 501st ships were forces to retreat into hyperspace, luckily before any vital systems had been damaged—or so the Imperials thought. In actuality, the relativistic shielding of the Imperial-I class Star Destroyer Trailblazer IV & the Victory-I class Star Destroyers Monocrat & Oligarch had failed. When the task force jumped to Hyperspace, these three vessels were no longer protected from the effects of time dilation; by travelling through space, they also travelled forward in time. When the three ships reverted back to realspace, in what should have been the Kalee system, they found—nothing. The orbits of stars in the galaxy had caused them to jump out in empty space. Puzzled, the Captain of the Trailblazer IV, Jiaan Terjerrod, attempted to contact Imperial High command. He got no response. Concerned, the three ships continued attempting to reestablish contact—first with the Imperials, then, as they were increasingly beset by frustration, anyone. Finally, in an act of desperation, a lowly communications technician searched radio frequencies that hadn’t been used for thousands of years; he got results. He reported the find to his superior, who reported it to his superior, and so on until the Captain of the Oligarch knew about the signal. Calling a meeting with the other ship captains, it was decided that they would follow the signal back to its planet of origin, and attempt to learn more from there. Before they could jump, however, the ship engineers discovered the damage to the relativistic shielding. The ship captains, realizing what must have happened, delayed the jump until the shields could be repaired. Once the relativistic shields were fully functional, the three vessels jumped to the signal source, and reverted to realspace over the Planet Earth, in the Sol System. Landing in Los Angeles, they attempted to make contact with the planetary authorities, only to find that they had landed during the first cataclysm, and there were no authorities with any real power anywhere; the entire planet was in a state of anarchy. Luckily, the Stormtroopers of the 501st Legion were good at turning chaos & anarchy into order. Quickly establishing a military junta in what was once the Western United States of America, the Stormtroopers of the 501st Legion swept far north & south, conquering vast areas of Canada & Mexico in addition to the former United States; they even crossed the pacific, & Taiwan, Southern China, & much of Southeast Asia were brought under the protection of the 501st Legion. Jiaan Terjerrod became the first Grand Moff of the 501st, and for a time, all was well. Unfortunately, the good times could not last. The first signs of the coming disorder came from 501st forces in Orbit; Khmer terrorists, obsessed with removing the 501st Legion from Cambodia, had managed to infiltrate the Imperial-I class Star Destroyer Trailblazer IV; they sought to blow up the great ship’s reactor, and they succeeded. The resulting explosion completely vaporized the Trailblazer IV, and caused massive amounts of damage to the Monocrat & the Oligarch. The 501st Legion reeled from the loss of men & material; the incident inspired Khmer nationalists to rise up in Cambodia- without the overwhelming orbital support that the 501st Legion usually enjoyed, they were forced to resort to the use of ground troops to fight the rebellion. The Cambodian traitors were swiftly crushed, but the damage was done; disgruntled groups throughout the 501st soon began planning their great bid for independence. The next great blow to 501st power came from the island of Taiwan. Shortly after the failed Khmer uprising, the island of Taiwan revolted. As the 501st Legion moved to restore order to the island, however, the young Taiwanese government struck a deal with the Kingdom of Hawai’i; Taiwan would become annexed by the Kingdom in exchange for Hawai’ian military protection. In a move that surprised many, Grand Moff Jiaan Terjerrod decided to let the incident slide; the cold hard truth behind his reasoning, however, was that with the Monocrat & the Oligarch still undergoing repairs, the 501st Legion could not afford to go to war with a nuclear power. This turned out to be precisely the wrong thing to do, however. All across the 501st’s holdings in North America, rebels, seeing the Grand Moff’s response as a sign of weakness, attacked 501st military installations. The Stormtroopers, outnumbered, weary of fighting, and lacking both orbital and air support, were slowly pushed back to the Pacific Ocean. Only in Asia was the 50st Legion able to maintain order, and as troops were evacuated from North America in the thousands, the Grand Moff was forced to admit defeat. He shortly thereafter sunk into a deep depression, and on March 28, 2184, Jiaan Terjerrod died a broken man. His successor, Grand Moff Dilag Nellaeop, saw instantly the reason for the collapse of the 501st Legion; the people were chafing under harsh restrictions. Unlike the Empire from which they came, the 501st Legion did not have the resources of an entire galaxy at their fingertips; they did not possess untold numbers of Star Destroyers, swarms of fighters, or hordes upon hordes of troops. No, all the 501st Legion possessed was a few Battalions of Stormtroopers & two heavily damaged Victory-I class Star Destroyers—and given the massive damage to their Star Destroyers & the limited resources of Earth, it would be decades at best before their orbital ships were operational again. Dilag Nellaeop saw only one solution to the problem of imminent rebellion; the elimination of the harsh standards & restrictions. He gradually reformed the Imperial Administration, repealed the more draconian laws, and guaranteed the population a series of basic rights. It took time, but in the face of Dilag Nellaeop’s reforms, the people gradually forgot their desire for independence; many embraced the 501st Legion, seeing themselves not as Cantonese, or Vietnamese, or Cambodian, but as 501sters. Eventually, the prevailing opinion, both domestic & international, was that the 501st Legion was not a country of tyranny & oppression, but that it was one of the freest nations that had ever existed. Now, as the rest of the world slowly recovers from the cataclysm & nation-states are emerging once more, Grand Moff Dilag Nellaeop is ready & willing to lead the 501st Legion back to the superpower status she once enjoyed. Game history Multipolarity IV is still in the sign-up phase; the game has yet to actually start. Trivia * All names used in the 501st Legion are made by rearranging the letters of the names of Imperial Star Wars characters; for example: ** Wilhuff Tarkin becomes Hilwuff Kartin ** Tiaan Jerjerrod becomes Jiaan Terjerrod ** Octavian Grant becomes Actovian Trang ** Gilad Pellaeon becomes Dilag Nellaeop * The only version of the 501st Legion that behaved the way one would expect an Imperial police state to behave was the Sons of Mars III version. * The 501st Legion has become associated with libertarianism due to a joke by the GM of the Multipolar World; while waiting for the 501st to explain their social policy, he used libertarianism as a placeholder, presumably because he found it amusing. The player also found this amusing, and decided to keep the policy. * The betrayal of the Comintern in the Multipolar World has caused several members of the CivFanatics forums to refer to the 501st Legion as Traitorstan. * The history of the 501st is maintained throughout The Multipolar Word, Multipolarity Rearmed, & Multipolarity 2, despite MPR following a separate canon. Category:Countries Category:SoM3 Category:Multipolarity Category:MP2 Category:MPR Category:MP4